Review: Thorns

Info:

Title: Thorns
Author: Kate Avery Ellison
Series: The Frost Chronicles #2
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: September 5, 2012

Blurb:

Lia Weaver went against everything she’d ever known when she risked her life to help a Farther fugitive named Gabe escape from the Aeralian soldiers, and her life changed forever. And the Frost changed, too—the Farthers have taken over her village, a new group of vigilantes calling themselves the Blackcoats are making plans to overthrow the Farther occupiers, and the Thorns are seeking for her to join them.

Lia seeks to fight back against the evil and injustice that has swallowed up her home, but danger lurks at every turn. The monsters that dwell in the deepest regions of the Frost are growing bolder and more dangerous every day, a Farther noble takes up residence in the village on a mysterious mission, and Lia discovers even more secrets embedded in her past.

As the frozen world of the Frost grows even more perilous, can Lia survive?

My Thoughts:

The Frost Chronicles are such an indie gem! Stories like these are the reason I love indie books!

I love the world of The Frost. The hardy inhabitants who stubbornly survive in the face of constant hardship. And things have only gotten harder for the Frost dwellers, with the Farther occupation of their town.

I fell in love with Lia in Frost and I still loved her in Thorns. She is so strong and puts her family above all else, which is something I admire a lot. But Lia isn't perfect. She is fiercely independent and stubbornly refuses to lean on those willing to help her.

I also loved the growth on the secondary characters, especially Ivy. She grows from a scatter-brained kid to a young woman, something Lia doesn't always see. I also loved the new aspects of Jonn and Ann that are exposed in this sequel.

Oh, and [slight spoiler] a love triangle I liked! This hardly even happens. I usually hate love triangles, but this one is very natural and genuine and I loved it!

And what a majorly cliff-hanger-y ending. I can't wait for the third book!

On the Cover:

This cover isn't as gorgeous as the cover of Frost, but I do like it. I think it shows Lia's strength.

Rating: 5 hearts.

Source: I received an ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Find the Book: Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords

Find the Author: Goodreads | Website | Twitter

Frost Blog Tour - Review

I'm super excited to be doing a review of Frost by Kate Avery Ellison as part of the Frost blog tour! Such an awesome book that's I'm excited to share with everyone. Plus, there's even a giveaway at the end!

Book description:

In the icy, monster-plagued world of the Frost, one wrong move and a person could end up dead—and Lia Weaver knows this better than anyone. After monsters kill her parents, she must keep the family farm running despite the freezing cold and threat of monster attacks or risk losing her siblings to reassignment by the village Elders. With dangers on all sides and failure just one wrong step away, she can’t afford to let her emotions lead her astray. So when her sister finds a fugitive bleeding to death in the forest—a young stranger named Gabe—Lia surprises herself and does the unthinkable.

She saves his life.

Giving shelter to the fugitive could get her in trouble. The Elders have always described the advanced society of people beyond the Frost, the “Farthers,” as ruthless and cruel. But Lia is startled to find that Gabe is empathetic and intelligent…and handsome. She might even be falling in love with him.

But time is running out. The monsters from the forest circle the farm at night. The village leader is starting to ask questions. Farther soldiers are searching for Gabe. Lia must locate a secret organization called the Thorns to help Gabe escape to safety, but every move she makes puts her in more danger.

Is compassion—and love—worth the risk?

Review:

This book was awesome! I love the cover and  loved Lia, but most of all I loved the setting. The Frost is a cold, inhospitable land where people live in a tightly regulated society and live in constant fear of Watchers. I'm a huge fan of dystopians and Kate Avery Ellison did a great job creating hers. I love the idea of the quota system and the intense fear of outsiders. I also loved how the reader got to see the layers of the society peeled back for a better view of the inner workings.

I also loved the characters. Lia was an incredibly strong female lead, willing to sacrifice it all for the people she cares about. I also liked that you could see some growth in more minor characters, like Ivy and Ann. I feel like Gabe could have maybe had a bit more development, however. I would have liked to get to know a bit more about him and his past!

Overall, I really loved Frost and can't wait to read more from Kate Avery Ellison! This was definitely a book I didn't want to end!

Find the Author:

http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/

Twitter is @katiewriting

Find the Book: Amazon/Barnes and Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Frost Launch Party!

Frost by Kate Avery Ellison is released today! I have a special guest post today from Kate Avery Ellison to celebrate! Check out the rest of the blogs taking part in the launch party here!

Book description:

In the icy, monster-plagued world of the Frost, one wrong move and a person might end up dead—and Lia Weaver knows this better than anyone. After monsters kill her parents, she must keep the family farm running despite the freezing weather and threat of monster attacks, or risk losing her siblings to reassignment by the village Elders. With dangers on all sides and treachery just one wrong step away, she can’t afford to let her emotions lead her astray. So when her sister finds a fugitive bleeding to death in the forest, a young man from beyond the Frost named Gabe, Lia surprises herself and does the unthinkable. 

She saves his life. 

Giving shelter to the fugitive could get her in serious trouble. The Elders have always described the advanced society of people beyond the Frost, the “Farthers,” as ruthless and cruel, and her village has nothing to do with them. But Lia is startled to find that Gabe is empathetic and intelligent…and handsome. She might even be falling in love with him. 

But time is running out. The monsters from the forest circle her farm at night. The village leader is starting to ask questions. Farther soldiers are searching for Gabe. Lia must locate a secret organization called the Thorns to help Gabe escape to safety, but each move she makes puts her in greater danger. Is compassion—and love—worth the risk?

Top Ten List From Kate Avery Ellison

1. Favorite movie/actor/actress? I’m a total sci fi geek, so of course I love the Star Wars trilogy. Another one of my favorites is The Man from Snowy River. It’s an old horse movie filmed in Australia. Finally, just saw The Hunger Games last weekend and it was incredible! I think they did a marvelous job adapting the book to the big screen. It’s probably in my top 5 favorite movies now.

2. Favorite song/singer? “Carnival of Rust” by Poets of the Fall is one of my favorite songs. I’ve also recently fallen in love with the song “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran.

3. Favorite place you would love to visit? Either New Zealand (Middle Earth!!) or this really cool place in Scotland called The Garden of Cosmic Speculation. It’s only open to the public one day of the year, and it looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland. It’s on my bucket list.

4. One item you cannot live without? Currently, my laptop! I do all of my writing, all of my business-related stuff, and most of my socializing with it. It holds all my manuscripts, music, and pictures.

5. Who would you like to meet? (dead or alive) Hmm. I would love to meet Flannery O’Connor (dead), since her magnificent stories inspired me to be a writer back when I was a teen. But I’d also love to hang out with author Maureen Johnson (alive) for a day. She is HILARIOUS.

6. Favorite hobby? Piano. I play by ear and make up songs. I can’t read music to save my life, though.

7. Guilty pleasure? I like to dance to incredibly cheesy pop songs while singing loudly. Also, I spend way too much time on social networking sites.

8. Favorite author and/book? Tough one! I am torn between naming Robin McKinley or Megan Whalen Turner as my favorite author (at least in the YA category). They’ve both had such an influence on my writing. I’ll go with both, and name a book from each—The Blue Sword by RM and The King of Attolia by MWT.

9. Do you collect anything? Dust, because I rarely clean my house. I’m too busy writing (or let’s be honest, tweeting).

10. Favorite color? The teal-blue color of tropical water, closely followed orange or dark purple.

About the author:

I've been making up stories since I was five years old, and now I'm thrilled to be able to do it as a full-time job. I have an obsession with dark fantasy, dystopian futures, and Pride and Prejudice-style love stories full of witty banter and sizzling, unspoken feelings. When I'm not writing, I spend my time gardening, composing music, and... look, who am I kidding? I spend most of my time tweeting, reading funny blogs, and watching TV. I live with my geeky husband and our two bad cats in Atlanta, GA. 

Links to find the author:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Katiewriting
Blog: http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/
Goodreads profile: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4863270.Kate_Avery_Ellison